4 ms·

Nothing screams tech bro like "I used to be one of those techbros who did <thing I just stopped doing>" Source: I got "very pure" on the tech bro purity test

gyulai 4y ago
I'd like to agree, and elaborate. The use of the "tech bro" stereotype in the article really rubs me the wrong way. It's a complete rhetorical low blow. It's identifying the opposite of the author's opinion with a group, and then portraying that group in a way so that the reader would rather distance themselves from that group than identify with that group. This triggers in-group/out-group psychology along the lines of: "My enemy's enemy must be my friend", or "My opinion should probably be the opposite of the opinion held by people I don't like." ...an obvious logical fallacy. In the compound "tech bro" it's actually the word "bro" that does the heavylifting to make the group unsympathetic. The rhetoric wouldn't work with "techies", but would work equally well with "frat bro". Outside of the U.S., "bro" is not even a readily recognizable cultural stereotype at all. For example people in the tech sector in Europe who are in their 50s and who like how dark mode reminds them of IBM terminals that existed back when they were young might have a preference for dark mode, but they surely don't fit the stereotype of a "tech bro". Young people into gaming aesthetics might like it too, but they aren't always tech bros. Preferences for light mode / dark mode are pretty much subjective personal preferences or maybe to some extent culturally ingrained, but in a way that has little or nothing to do with being a "bro". It's like saying: "So you like to have a lot of black on your screen? Do you know who else liked black? Mussolini! So, do you still want all that black on your screen now, like a fascist pig? Or do you do what I tell you to do now, and set your screen mode to light?"
- pentaphobe 4y ago
  Excellent elaboration, thanks! You eloquently summed up exactly the thought process & distaste I experienced but in a way which adds some conversational pithiness rather than the pablum of my throwaway jest. 10 points to gryffindor!

gyulai 4y ago

I'd like to agree, and elaborate. The use of the "tech bro" stereotype in the article really rubs me the wrong way. It's a complete rhetorical low blow. It's identifying the opposite of the author's opinion with a group, and then portraying that group in a way so that the reader would rather distance themselves from that group than identify with that group. This triggers in-group/out-group psychology along the lines of: "My enemy's enemy must be my friend", or "My opinion should probably be the opposite of the opinion held by people I don't like." ...an obvious logical fallacy. In the compound "tech bro" it's actually the word "bro" that does the heavylifting to make the group unsympathetic. The rhetoric wouldn't work with "techies", but would work equally well with "frat bro". Outside of the U.S., "bro" is not even a readily recognizable cultural stereotype at all. For example people in the tech sector in Europe who are in their 50s and who like how dark mode reminds them of IBM terminals that existed back when they were young might have a preference for dark mode, but they surely don't fit the stereotype of a "tech bro". Young people into gaming aesthetics might like it too, but they aren't always tech bros. Preferences for light mode / dark mode are pretty much subjective personal preferences or maybe to some extent culturally ingrained, but in a way that has little or nothing to do with being a "bro". It's like saying: "So you like to have a lot of black on your screen? Do you know who else liked black? Mussolini! So, do you still want all that black on your screen now, like a fascist pig? Or do you do what I tell you to do now, and set your screen mode to light?"

pentaphobe 4y ago
Excellent elaboration, thanks! You eloquently summed up exactly the thought process & distaste I experienced but in a way which adds some conversational pithiness rather than the pablum of my throwaway jest. 10 points to gryffindor!